The Board remands the issue of entitlement to service connection for a left ankle condition due to a duty to assist error in obtaining a medical opinion.
The deciding factor: The July 2023 VA medical opinion was found incomplete as it did not consider whether the Veteran's left ankle condition is related to overuse from his in-service right knee injury, and an addendum opinion is required.
- Claimed conditions
- left ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain
- How they argued it
- Not specified
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- June 26, 2025
- Citation
- A25055413
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The appeal is remanded to correct pre-decisional duty to assist errors, including the failure to obtain relevant treatment records and provide adequate VA examinations.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings for various service-connected conditions, finding that the evidence did not support a higher rating under applicable criteria.
- Partly granted
The Board granted service connection for sleep apnea, left shoulder bicipital tendon tear, hypogonadism, erectile dysfunction, and left carpal tunnel syndrome. The claims for increased ratings for lumbar spondylosis with facet arthropathy and lumbosacral strain, right hip strain with osteoarthritis, other specified trauma and stressor related disorder, left and right ankle lateral collateral ligament sprain, right shoulder rotator cuff tear, left knee patellofemoral pain syndrome, right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome (to include iliotibial band syndrome), and chronic right wrist sprain were denied. The Board also granted an effective date of July 7, 2023 for the award of increased ratings.
- Denied
The Board denied the veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection, dismissing or denying all appeals.
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